COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lankan troops continued their slog through mines and mortar fire towards a Tamil Tiger-held water supply on Tuesday, while jets hit rebel positions and a military transport ship was attacked.

The government accused the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) of attempted ethnic cleansing through cutting off the water supply to some 50,000 people, but said they were still committed to a fading 2002 ceasefire.

Statement from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan:

The Secretary-General is very concerned about the increasing violence in Sri Lanka, and the escalation that has resulted from a water dispute in the north-east. He is disturbed by reports that there have been many civilian victims, including children, as well as large displacements of people. He calls on all the parties to allow humanitarian agencies unimpeded access to the affected population.

Perhaps if they had scheduled their crisis a bit earlier in the summer, they might have gotten a bit more attention, but right now we only have time to pay attention to one global hotspot and it's not Sri Lanka.

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